Ethnic relations in India

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Ethnic relations or discrimination in India pertain to the attitude of Indians to people of other ethnicities or races. Within India, almost each province has its own distinct style and flavour in its folk form of music and dance, and mutual influences are not rare. Distinct style and character can be seen in paintings, sculpture architecture, poetry and other traditions of the country.

People in different regions respect the culture and tradition of theirs and others'. Unity in diversity prevailing in India makes the country secular.[1]

People of different religions/castes take part in each other's festivals/occasions.[2] People from one religion has provided protection to an occasion of other religion, which happened in 12 August 2013.[3]

Inter-caste marriages happen and these becomes a unifying factor of the nation.[4] Certain state governments encourage the inter-caste or inter-faith marriages by providing incentives.[5]

The most infamous racial attacks and also the largest number of racial attacks has been towards the bihari people. The state of Bihar has been extremely ignored by the central government in terms of social welfare and economic development. The state government in 1990s has been blamed for heavy corruption. Especially the RJD government of which the leader is Lalu Prasad Yadav. Thus bihar had lower economic growth than the rest of India in the 1990s, and as a consequence many Biharis have migrated to other parts of India in search of work. Bihari migrant workers have been subject to a growing degree of xenophobia, racial discrimination, prejudice and violence. Biharis are often looked down upon and their accent ridiculed. In 2000 and 2003, anti-Bihari violence led to the deaths of up to 200 people and created 10,000 internal refugees.

There are significant bihari community in Northeast states like assam, manipur and nagaland. There has been a number of racial attacks against them, which includes a number of massacares. Almost all of which has been carried out by militant groups. This has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of bihari people and has internally displaced thousands.

The most recent one was on 18th jan, 2014, when Four youths from Bihar were shot dead after being pulled out from a bus by NDFB militants in Assam’s Kokrajhar district. Three others, also from Bihar, were injured in the incident.[11]

In recent years there have been many reports of discrimination against Northeastern Indians. In 2007 the North East Support Center & Helpline (NESC&H) was started as a separate wing of All India Christian Council, with the goal of increasing awareness of prejudice and attacks against people from North-East India.[12] Many people from Northeast face difficulty and discrimination for accommodation.[13] Many north-easterners are called "chinky" by people in New Delhi,[14] in reference to the appearance of their eyes, though it may not widely be applicable to Assam because of mixed demographics where an equally significant number of the population are "Indo-Aryan" and thus lack Mongoloidphenotypes. A spokesman for the NESC&H, said that abuse and harassment of north-easterners had became more.[15]

In 2012, in an attempt to prevent racial discrimination against people from the North East, Indian government has asked all the states and union territories to book anyone who commits an act of atrocity against people from the region under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A person found guilty under this act, can be jailed for 5 years.

In North-East India, there have been many attacks on those from outside the region. In 2007, thousands of Hindi-speaking labourers fled from Assam after a series of massacres and bomb attacks. In May 2007, nine of them were killed and another 20 injured in violent attacks.[19] In August 2007, 26 people from other parts of India were killed in a series of attacks over a period of six days. The police blamed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the Karbi Longri National Liberation Front for the violence.[20] The members of Purbottar Hindustani Sanmelan (PHS) staged a hunger strike in Dispur to protest against the "merciless killings of innocent and defenceless Hindi-speaking people".[21] Overall, 98 non-locals were killed in Assam during 2007.[22]

In March–April 2008, a banned Meitei outfit killed 16 non-locals in Manipur.[23] PHS alleged that anti-social elements in Assam were carrying out a continuous hate campaign against the Hindi speakers in the region.[24] In May 2009, nine Hindi speakers were killed in Assam and Manipur, after the attackers set around 70 houses ablaze.[25]

During 8–10 November 2010, 21 Hindi, Bengali and Nepali speakers were killed by a faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Assam.[26] In January 2014, five men from Bihar were killed and another three were injured after being pulled out from a bus and shot at.[27]

People from other countries are treated differently by some Indian people based on the country they come from and Colour. Especially African people are affected more.[28] African people coming to India for studies are affected. Some people are denied for accommodation and improperly treated.[29][30]